United’s new bad deal for frequent fliers. The small print: Starting in January 2014, Premier qualification requirements will include a minimum annual spending level. We will track this qualifying spending with Premier qualifying dollars (PQD): dollars spent on most United® tickets, including partner flights, and Economy Plus® purchases. These changes do not affect Premier qualifying miles (PQM) or Premier qualifying segments (PQS). For 2014, the PQD requirement for Premier Silver, Premier Gold and Premier Platinum qualification will be waived for members whose address with MileagePlus® is within the 50 United States or the District of Columbia and who spend at least $25,000 in Net Purchases in 2014 on a MileagePlus co-branded credit card issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. There is no PQD waiver for Premier 1K® qualification. You earn PQD for the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges on qualifying tickets. Certain specialty tickets, including but not limited to unpublished, consolidator, group/tour, and opaque fares do not earn PQD. Just as with Premier qualifying miles (PQM) and Premier qualifying segments (PQS), we will credit the account of the member who travels, not the member who purchases the ticket. Great strategy: Take your most loyal customers and make life harder for them. I’m a million-plus mile flier with United, and a lifetime member of the United Club. I am not happy. And I’m not alone. If any other airline wants my business, I’m available.

My Routine — Mark Rothstein, Law Professor. In the Louisville Courier-Journal. “I don’t know that people have knowingly, consciously consented to the accumulation of data. We live in an age in which consent should not be mistaken for choice. We click through consent on software without even reading it. Even if we technically consented, I doubt very much whether the average person would say, ‘Oh sure, it’s OK for my phone company to accumulate all this data about me.'”

Agreed, Dave, with one exception: Google isn’t open. It talks open, and supports some open efforts (e.g. the Data Liberation Front), but its business, with its vast data centers and God-knows-what held in them, is a giant black box with the words “trust us” stenciled in white on the outside.